Sit Stand Desks: The Hype, the Health, and the Honest Bit in the Middle

Standing desks have been sold to us as a cure for roughly everything: back pain, afternoon slumps, waistlines, focus, possibly the weather. I build this website rather than sell the desks, so I have the luxury of being blunt about it. The sit stand desk benefits that hold up are real and worth having. They are also narrower than the advertising suggests.

Here is the version I would give a friend who asked whether to bother.

The sit stand desk benefits that hold up

The strongest one is simple: you spend less of the day in a single fixed position. People who can raise the desk tend to move more often, break up long sitting stretches and report less stiffness by the end of the week. Being able to stand for a phone call, then drop back down to type, is the whole point of the thing.

The second is less discussed and, in an office, quite practical. A desk that changes height fits different people. Hot desking, a new starter who is a foot taller than the last one, somebody recovering from a knee operation who cannot sit for long: one desk covers all of it without anybody hunting for a footrest.

What a standing desk will not do

It will not burn a meaningful number of calories. Standing instead of sitting for a few hours a day makes a difference you would need a very good pair of scales to detect. If the pitch you read leaned on weight loss, ignore that bit.

It will not fix back pain on its own either. Some people get real relief from standing more, some find it makes no odds, and a few find standing hurts in a new and interesting way. A badly set up standing desk with the screen too low is no kinder to your neck than a badly set up sitting one.

And standing all day is its own bad idea. Feet, knees and lower back all object eventually. The people who get on best with these desks switch every hour or so and never think about it much.

What to look for in the hardware

Once you have decided the honest version is still worth it, the buying part is mercifully mechanical. Four things separate a desk you will use from a desk you will stop using.

1. Dual motor rather than single. Two motors drive the legs together, which means less wobble at standing height and a desk that copes with a loaded top.

2. A height range that covers you at both ends, standing and sitting.

3. Memory presets, so changing height is one button and not a fiddle.

4. A stated weight capacity, because monitors and docking stations add up faster than you think.

The height range is the one people get wrong. The Air dual motor desk runs from 66.5cm to 131.5cm, with 57.5cm to 128.5cm of clear space under the top. If you are tall, check the top of that range against your elbow height standing up. If the desk cannot reach it, no amount of good intentions will help.

Speed and memory settle the rest. That desk moves at 38mm per second and holds four saved heights, which sounds like a small thing and is the difference between one button press and a fiddle every time. A desk that takes half a minute to change height quietly stops being changed. Look for a stated weight capacity too: 120kg on that model, which covers a couple of monitors, a docking station and the usual sediment of paperwork.

Anti-trap protection is worth having if the desk lives near a drawer unit or a windowsill. The desk stops when it meets resistance rather than trying to win.

Have a look at the full height adjustable desk range if you want to compare ranges and capacities side by side. Every one lists its height range, so you can rule out most of them in a minute without asking anybody anything.